Volkswagen to invest US$27 billion in core brand until 2022

November 20, 2017

German automaker Volkswagen will invest EUR22.8 billion (US$26.9 billion) in its main car brand over the next five years.

Most of that sum, around EUR14 billion, will be spent in Germany, Volkswagen said, adding that one of the key measures included a EUR1 billion injection to transform the carmaker’s Zwickau plant into a pure e-mobility facility.

“The investment package which has now been adopted will give a decisive boost to the largest product and technology offensive in the history of the brand,” Herbert Diess, Chief Executive of the Volkswagen brand and a VW management board member, said.

Analysts see reviving the VW brand, which has long suffered from high staff and development costs, as crucial to the group’s ability to recover from a diesel emissions scandal that has gripped the carmaker.

The investments unveiled on Saturday are part of Volkswagen’s EUR72 billion spending plan for the 2018-2022 period that was announced on Friday.